Discord is reportedly removing servers for Nintendo Switch emulators juice and Judges while also completely disabling accounts for their developers.
As covered The Verge, emulator developers have received communications from Discord about allegedly sharing content that infringes intellectual property. In a statement to The Verge, Discord said there was a court order to remove such materials, suggesting the action was directly related to previous legal issues surrounding the Switch emulator. Yuzu.
“Discord responds to and complies with all legal and applicable requirements of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). In this case, there was also a court order to remove these materials, and we have taken action in accordance with the court order.”
However, what is unclear about this development is that it is not obvious whether the Discord channels themselves were actually infringing IP rights. The developers previously said they were taking appropriate measures to avoid action from Nintendo, but it’s also possible that individuals within the channel were sharing material that could violate Discord’s policies.
However, even if this is the case, Discord’s Copyright and IP Policy states that only certain content deemed to violate copyright law will be removed, while repeat infringers’ accounts will be disabled entirely. According to Sudachi’s developer Jarrod Norwell, Discord’s removal of his account came out of the blue with very little supporting information to justify the action.
As such, removing entire channels and developer accounts seems to be a case of ‘dotting the i’s and crossing the t’ for Discord, and it’s likely that the company would simply prefer to avoid Nintendo’s wrath entirely. Hopefully more information will come to light regarding the issue, but it certainly seems like Nintendo is on the warpath regarding Switch emulators.